


gold light falling backwards

by ohwickedsoul



Category: Haikyuu!!
Genre: Alternate Universe - Fantasy, Alternate Universe - Magic, M/M, Meet-Cute, Minor Kuroo Tetsurou/Tsukishima Kei, Minor Sawamura Daichi/Sugawara Koushi, Urban Fantasy
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-01-15
Updated: 2021-01-15
Packaged: 2021-03-13 13:29:49
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,153
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28779075
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ohwickedsoul/pseuds/ohwickedsoul
Summary: “So,” Suga says, leaning his elbows on the counter after Yamaguchi greets him and gets his order for the day. “Did you hear the news?”“Probably not,” Yamaguchi says, dropping a box on the counter to put Suga’s requests in. “What’s going on?”“What isn’t,” Suga rolls his eyes, sighs in a falsely put upon way. “Some kitsune’s sniffing around Hinata, so Kageyama is pissy, the tengu are supposedly bothering the bakenekos again but I really do think they like it, honestly, Tsukki said he’d be in later,” he pauses for breath, and Yamaguchi stares at him wide eyed.
Relationships: Terushima Yuuji/Yamaguchi Tadashi
Comments: 10
Kudos: 73





	gold light falling backwards

When Yamaguchi unlocks the door to the apothecary this morning, he really does think it’s going to be a good day. 

He had woken up on time, he had just enough grounds to fill up his travel thermos, and he had caught the train right as it was about to pull away from the station. He was feeling cheerful and well pleased with himself, had given up his seat to an elderly looking banshee with pure white hair. 

The grin he had gotten in return had been missing far too many teeth, but he still counted it as a plus. 

It’s just before nine am that he’s fishing the big silver skeleton key, a little awkward looking amongst the small, modern keys to his apartment and mailbox, out of his pocket and twisting it in the lock of his shop. 

It’s technically his mother’s shop still, but she’s starting to get on and has decreed, rather imperiously, that she’s much too old to be up so early to open the shop and if it’s going to be Tadashi’s one day, he better well get on in there then, shouldn’t he? Seeing as this proclamation was delivered with enough food to last Yamaguchi two weeks and a wink, he doesn’t take it too seriously. 

He likes opening up the shop, anyway- the morning light comes in thick through the windows, and the herbs hang thick and fragrant from the suspiciously high, vaulted ceiling. (Yamaguchi’s sure it’s enchanted, but he’s never gotten a straight answer.)

It’s exactly at nine that he gives a semi-unconscious little wave of the hand at the door, and the sign flips, and _Amaranth Et Al_ is open. 

It’s at 9:15 that the bell over the door lets him know someone’s entered the shop, and Yamaguchi pops up from unpacking boxes of mustard seeds to see Sugawara peering around the shop. Suga is generally sort of…glow-y, and he brightens further- quite literally- when he sees Yamaguchi. 

“Good morning!” He says. 

Yamaguchi knows Suga is some sort of- not human. He’s never asked, but Yamaguchi has a talent for guessing, and he suspects it’s some sort of fey. He’s a regular customer, anyway, funny and wickedly sharp. 

He’s also an incurable gossip, and the only reason Yamaguchi knows anything that goes on in the magical quarter of their city.

“So,” Suga says, leaning his elbows on the counter after Yamaguchi greets him and gets his order for the day. “Did you hear the news?”

“Probably not,” Yamaguchi says, dropping a box on the counter to put Suga’s requests in. “What’s going on?”

“What isn’t,” Suga rolls his eyes, sighs in a falsely put upon way. “Some kitsune’s sniffing around Hinata, so Kageyama is pissy, the tengu are supposedly bothering the bakenekos again but I really do think they like it, honestly, Tsukki said he’d be in later,” he pauses for breath, and Yamaguchi stares at him wide eyed. 

“Daichi’s got a new were to take care of, just moved in from the country, the vampire support group Kiyoko runs has to find a new place to meet, and our sink is leaking. ” Suga finishes. “Oh, and somebody new moved in.”

“What?” Yamaguchi says, a little dazed. 

"About which part? I think they're some kind of fey, but I'm not sure," Suga says. 

“Uh, the neighbor,” Yamaguchi says, focusing on the last part of the sentence. Suga and Daichi live in a building in the magical quarter that caters specifically to supes that needed more specific accommodation than was available in your average housing.

“Moved in, hmm, yesterday,” Suga says. Yamaguchi heads over to the shelves and climbs the short ladder, and Suga trails behind him. It’s a little rickety, a convenience store buy, but their rolling ladder has two stuck wheels and Yamaguchi hasn’t found the time to fix it yet. “Blonde. Some kind of fey, I think.” and Yamaguchi, halfway up the ladder, turns at the frown in Suga’s voice. 

“You think?” Yamaguchi said in surprise. Suga has an unerring sense for who- or what, really- people were. Better than Yamaguchi’s, most of the time, though Yamaguchi could sometimes get one over him due to the sheer amount of people he saw trail in and out of the shop every day.

“I couldn’t put a finger on it,” Suga admits with a shrug, and Yamaguchi snags the dried lion’s tooth off the high shelf and climbs down.

“Whatever he is, I don’t know it or haven’t seen it,” Suga says. “He’s cute though. I told him about you,” he adds as an afterthought. 

Yamaguchi freezes, Suga’s coins held above the register drawer. 

“What?” He says. 

Suga winks. “You’re welcome!” he says in a sing song. He relents at the sight of Yamaguchi’s pleading face. “Relax, I just told him you were a good herbalist. If you can figure out what he is, I’ll re-charm your greenhouse for free.”

That does give Yamaguchi pause. Suga is very good. Charms are expensive. “I’ll see,” he says, reluctantly. 

Suga hefts the box up on his hip and waves at Yamaguchi. “See you later! Text me if you figure it out!”

The next hour passes slowly

It’s made slower by some humans, clearly in on a dare and nervous about the magical quarter, coming in and poking around. One nearly pulls a container of hogweed down onto her head and Yamaguchi has to throw a panicked charm at it, freezing the bottle mid-air, which makes him tired and the girls freaked out. 

At least they leave. 

Yamaguchi sends a despairing text to the group chat, complaining about the general ineptitude of customers, and drops his head down onto the counter.

It’s about fifteen minutes later when the door chimes again, and Yamaguchi sighs with relief at the sight of who it is. 

“And you brought coffee,” he says, thankful. 

“Yes, I’m a saint, you’re very welcome,” Tsukishima says, pushing up his glasses. Yachi peeks around his arm.

“Hello!” She says. Her tail twists around her knees, whipcord thin and topped with a silky tuft of fur as yellow as her hair.

“I’m so glad to see you two,” Yamaguchi says, slumping onto his own counter. “Had some awful people in here earlier _touching_ things, and I had to freeze a jar of hogweed, and Suga is sending some mysterious person my way and it’s just-“

“We saw your text,” Yachi says. 

The coffee is dropped unceremoniously by his elbow. “Your life is very hard,” Tsukishima says dryly. 

“Sorry Tsukki,” Yamaguchi says automatically. He sits up straighter and takes a sip. The coffee is perfect. 

“Sorry you had to deal with shitty customers,” Yachi says, frowning and nudging Tsukishima in the ribs with a pointy little elbow. 

Yamaguchi shrugs. “That’s retail, I guess. What’s up with you guys?”

“Who’s the mysterious person coming in?’ Tsukishima asks, ignoring the question.

Yachi sighs. “Tsukki wants to buy catnip,” she says flatly. 

“You what?” Yamaguchi says, his eyebrows going up. 

“I don’t want to talk about it,” Tsukishima says, eyebrows drawing together. 

Yamaguchi turns, ignoring him, and says to Yachi, “I heard something about the tengu and bakeneko-“

Her ponytail bobs when she nods, grinning.

“Huh,” Yamaguchi sits back on his stool. “Good for you, Tsukki.”

Tsukishima’s high cheekbones go pink. He coughs. “Kuroo did tell me a rumor that some sort of shifter moved in to Suga’s building,” he allows. “Is that who’s coming?”

Yamaguchi frowns. “Suga thought he was fey.”

Tsukishima and Yachi both frown. “Suga’s not usually wrong,” Tsukishima says begrudgingly. Yamaguchi fetches catnip, waves off Tsukishima’s money as thanks for the coffee, and they leave a few minutes later, Yamaguchi’s spirits lifted. 

There’s restock to do, however, and so Yamaguchi’s up on the rickety ladder when the door rings a few minutes later. He twists, trying to see who it is, and his foot slips. 

He grabs the ladder, his heart suddenly in his throat, and manages to keep his footing for a moment, and then the entire thing starts tilting back. 

He doesn’t even have enough breath to scream, just goes over backwards with a white knuckle grip on the rung he managed to catch.

The impact of the stone floor on his back never comes. Instead, there’s suddenly a solid set of arms beneath him.

There’s a thud, a voice says, “Ow,” in a bemused tone, and then the ladder clatters to the floor. 

Yamaguchi opens eyes he didn’t realize he had scrunched closed, bracing for an impact that didn’t come. 

“Hiya, freckles,” the man who caught him smiles down at him. His eyes flash near gold in the sun. 

“…hi?” Yamaguchi says weakly. 

The man sets him down on his feet with seemingly zero effort and rubs the side of his head. “Got me with the ladder on the way down,” he grins. 

Yamaguchi stares at him, wide eyed for a brief moment, and then stumbles into apologies. “I’m so sorry,” he says. “I- I don’t know what happened, I just lost my footing and panicked, and I-“

“No worries,” the man says, grin widening. “I’ve never had someone literally fall for me before.” And then he _winks_.

Yamaguchi’s mouth opens, but no sound comes out. He can feel a hot red blush starting at his neck and working its way up his face. 

“Suga sent me,” the man says, apparently ignoring the fact that Yamaguchi has been struck speechless. “I just moved into his building.” He looks around the store. “Friendly guy, huh? I’m Terushima. Yuuji Terushima.”

“Yamaguchi Tadashi,” Yamaguchi manages after a moment. “It’s um. It’s nice to meet you?” He says it like a question, because now Yamaguchi is getting a good look at the man who saved him from a broken back, or at least a set of heavy bruises. 

Terushima is wearing leather pants, which does take Yamaguchi quite a few moments to get over. The rest of him is in an oversized black t-shirt of some band Yamaguchi doesn’t know, the armholes cut out, and he is _draped_ in gold jewelry. 

He has a ring on almost every finger, chains around his throat, and his ears look like the ladder that almost took him out. 

“Glad to hear there was an herbalist in the area,” Terushima’s saying, wandering around the store now as Yamaguchi just stares at him. When he twists to get a better look at some of the crystals on display, the low cut armholes of his shirt reveal that his nipple has a gold bar threaded through it. “Suga said you were good, but he didn’t mention you were cute too,” Terushima turns back to him at that, and his tongue darts out to touch the tip of a sharp canine. 

His tongue also has a piece of gold, a piercing, right in the middle. 

“Of course,” Yamaguchi says faintly. “W-would you excuse me a moment?”

Terushima grins at him like he _knows_ why he’s going to hide for a moment, and waves him off. 

In the back, Yamaguchi starts texting Suga, hesitates a moment, and then says fuck it, and texts it to the group chat:

 **From: Yama-gucci**  
SUGA SENT A FUCKING DRAGON TO MY SHOP. 

The replies start pouring in a moment later. 

**From: suga daddy**  
he’s a dragon??? ⊙０⊙

 **From: Tsukishima Kei**  
Kuroo says there’s no way. 

**From: yacchan ♡＾▽＾♡**  
omg!!! 

**From: SHOYOUUU**  
THEIR REALLY RARE RIGHT

 **From: Tsukishima Kei**  
Akaashi says they did hear that there was a clan of them moving in. 

There’s some noises from outside, however, and Yamaguchi does have a business to run, and so he heads back out, wiping his sweaty hands on his corduroys. 

Terushima is standing with his hands on his hips, surveying the shop. He looks pleased with Yamaguchi comes back out. 

“Can I help you find anything?” Yamaguchi asks, trying to be polite. Hinata wasn’t wrong- dragons _were_ rare, and powerful, and what the hell was one doing in his dinky little apothecary anyway-

“Your number?” Terushima asks, charming smile on his face. 

Yamaguchi’s brain grinds to a halt. “…I beg your pardon?”

“Your number,” Terushima repeats. “Can you help me find that?”

Yamaguchi must have actually hit his head when he fell off the ladder, because when he opens his mouth what comes out is, “Your lines are _really_ terrible.”

Terushima blinks, eyes gold and slitted for a brief moment, and then he laughs, mouth open and sort of- delighted. 

Yamaguchi does his level best not to stare at the piercing that keeps drawing his attention. 

“You’re great,” Terushima says with every indication of sincerity. “May I?” 

“I- don’t you need to buy anything?” Yamaguchi fumbles. “Nothing?” 

Terushima cocks his head. “If I say yes, will you give it to me?”

Yamaguchi shakes his head sort of helplessly. “I’m probably going to give it to you anyway,” he admits. 

Terushima’s grin is a flash of sharp white teeth.

**Author's Note:**

> originally written as a twitter thread to celebrate 400 followers. 
> 
> [you can find me on twt here (18+)](https://twitter.com/ohwickedsoul)
> 
> stay safe, stay healthy, be good!


End file.
